Man has always been concerned with protecting his body from injury caused by outside means. With the advent of contact sports such as gladiator exhibitions in ancient times or the early days of football, leather coverings and pads were used, sometimes even with soft backings. Although these pads helped, injuries were still more the norm than the unusual.
In more recent years hard plastic has been developed with sponge rubber and similar backing used in conjunction therewith to contouringly fit over the areas most frequently subject to injury. Although the incidents of injuries has been drastically reduced, they are still way above acceptable limits.